Monday, May 03, 2010

I was very surprised to hear that Morocco walked out with France, Britain and the United States when Ahmedinejad was making his speech at the United Nations in New York. Many Arab countries have now prostituted themselves to the West, but to do so this openly and brazenly? The Moroccan envoys strutting like peacocks when really they are nothing more than a tail for their European and American masters. Meanwhile Muhammad Abed al Jabiri, the Moroccan thinker, intellectual and writer passed away. A man who spent his life opposing French occupation and colonialism of his country. A poignant reminder of how low Morocco has sunk today.

Frankly Ahmedinejad is a clean man for whom I have much respect and a lot of time for. Truth be told the Iranian people do not deserve a man like him as president. Most of the Iranians I meet stumble over each other in imitating Western life-styles and attitudes in a way that even Europeans or Americans would not contemplate. They are the fastest to reach for the glass of wine, their women choose the shortest of dresses and are quickest to the dance floor and they are all the loudest to criticise a religion they know almost nothing about.

Going back to Morocco's shameful display in New York, in a way the Arab countries deserve all the humiliation and disgust that can be heaped on them. As a people we all know what is right, we have just chosen to abandon and ignore it. What a joke, honestly. The nation of Sheesha, Rotana and ridiculous television soaps.

20 comments:

Anonymous
said...

how can Morocco not try to play with France and it's new buddy the US....Morocco's primary economic partner as well as creditor is France...and the US's lil brother UK cannot be left alone with no play buddy. if Morocco refused to play they would be committing economic suicidewithout the West Morocco would most probably die and fall off the edge of Africa to drown into the ocean, they rely on them to keep their main industries alive (tourism and agriculture)............if we Arabs are so fired up about the Arab cause, we don't we use our tourism money to visit other Arab countries instead of mouth watering at the thought of flying to Paris, London and New York? why not book a flight to Tunis, Damascus, Tripoli or Tangier.....if Arab money had a heavier weight on the Moroccan scale I think they might think about trading play buddies

Maysaloon, as a un student surrounded by Iranians fleeing Khomeini in the late 70s, and as one who has worked with refugees from Iran and Iraq for over twenty years, I blanch at the thought of supporting this man and the Iranian regime (but of course, as an American myself, no one is probably surprised)

If you think America and her like are harsh and unjust, just wait until he and his like control the region.

He will be an ally against the US and Israel, but once they are out of the way, he will apply the brute of his evil on the oil-rich of Arabia. It will make Israeli atrocities look like school-yard bullying.

Kinzi,Thank you for your concern though you are correct in that it is no surprise coming from you as an American. Still I am genuinely interested to see why people like you have these beliefs and maybe understand their source better.

Could you please tell me why you or these refugees you speak of think he is evil and what gives you the authority to refer to an elected Islamic government as a "regime"? Also, what exactly do you believe they will do in oil-rich Arabia which would make Israeli atrocities look like "school-yard bullying". Your comments just don't seem to have any substance so far but I'd like to hear how you explain yourself rather than dismiss your comments as pro-American scaremongering.

Meli you're right. It is hardly surprising. But then again, when do we all stop being driven by circumstance and decide to actually make a decision or stand on something we care about.

We Arabs are very good at letting circumstance and "pragmatism" dictate our decisions, which surprisingly seem to always point us in the convenient direction that makes us prisoners with no freedom of choice. There is a choice - we can make our world the way we want it if we are prepared to pay the price.

Haitham,Thanks man, you are so right. Still, if it is all "masaleh" then I think it's about time we ditched short term for long term masaleh and start acting like sovereign peoples. La 3amma fe 3yoonon :)

I understand that frustration only too well. No worries at all but when you do get the chance to reply, let's avoid writing each other mini-essays and try to keep the points succinct and clear. I think it makes it easier for us all I am sure you'll agree :)

Thank you for your concern though you are correct in that it is no surprise coming from you as an American.

As your attitudes are no surprise coming from a Syrian. How do you explain, even to yourself, how you can support a man as leader of Iran that even Iranians IN IRAN don't support, though? Does that seem logical, to you?

Maysaloon, thanks for understanding. Sort-of takes the wind out of your sails when all the work is for nothing (and the kids are going "mom, when's dinner?").

But the reminder to be succinct, it is not my default-setting.

Fa, my first point was that I think perhaps I am too used to hearing the term 'regime' in terms of my own democratically elected leaders. Sorry about that :). I may not like him, but I do respect his place as a leader.

My opinion is not based on the news media, not a degree of study. I have been sitting, drinking tea and listening to Iranians (and Iraqis) for a long time, wanting to understand their issues on their terms.

Neelofa, my uni roommate, was the only survivor of her family,all assassinated by Khomeini's people. She didn't like the Shah, and I agree he pushed too much of the worst of the West too soon. But she is certainly not drinking wine and wearing short skirts. But she was passionate about Iran.

I see today's protestors in Tehran and am reminded of the refugees I knew from the mid to late 80s, young articulate people who weren't concerned about freedom to sin, but freedom to think. Young people your age.

I remember others who fled the Iran-Iraq war, the atrocities they were forced to commit. How they got along in Austria, without SH and Kh telling them to hate each other.

Those I still keep in contact with are through church friends. There are at least two large Persian language churches in Vienna, all of whom left Islam as a result of what they suffered there.

I hear from them there how many fellow believers are imprisoned, or just 'disappeared'. The Bahais, too.

I see the condition of women's rights, here imams saying that breasts and tans cause earthquakes and immorality. Many judge Islam by men such as these. I don't see this as good.

What I have learned living for 50 years now, is that very few men, leaders and countries can survive power and wealth without succombing to the insatiable quest for more.

One would think that Israel, having Holocaust survivors in her midst, would 'never again' commit similar acts toward Palestinians. Tragic. And I have no doubt that if Palestinians take over, they would likewise forget and inflict the same suffering on someone else. It is human nature.

I am certain that Iran's leader is like all other men in this way. SH had the Arab world in fear of taking over countries with just the rumor of WMD.

Ahm is additionally emboldened with religious fervor, and I don't doubt for a minute he would wipe out people he considered 'inferior Muslims' in addition to vanilla infidels like me. Especially where petroleum is concerned.

So there you have it, where 'people like me' get some ideas from. Hope it helps. I am praying it will. As Meli says, it's so much more fun to play together. :)

Thanks Kinzi,You've done a great job at being succinct and you made some great points that are worth touching upon. Firstly I need to correct one point you said, which is that NO leader is worth respecting insofar as they are a leader. A leader is only as worthy as his piety and his fear of Allah as he manages the affairs of his flock. Apart from that we must have little time for 'officialdom' and leaders. They have their own judgement on the Day and it will be stricter than for us normal people :)

As for the Iran-Iraq war, the hating was mostly from the Arab side I am ashamed to say. Saddam Hussein, God forgive him, only became the Arab leader he should have been when he stood facing the gallows. But this brings us to a good point, the world has never been prepared to accept an Islamic government that was independent. Iran has been under seige since the Islamic revolution and this has, unfortunately, given them a siege mentality governed by suspicion.

If they could come here and see my mosque in Acton where we have a Polish former Catholic man who is trying to memorise the Qur'an alone in the corner, or the Jamaican and West-Indian former born-again Christians now as we all bow down to one God and listen to the teachings of His Prophet, it is a beautiful thing and they would understand the Prophet's message that there is no compulsion in religion, the Truth is clear from non-Truth now. Even in the very strict way they treat women there, here I have been shocked by the number of women who have come to say their Shahada and wear a hejab. One of them was a former Filipino catholic, the other was a South African atheist, and all without force or compulsion and in an environment which actively tries to make Islam look evil! But sadly it is human nature to be suspicious of people who follow a Western religion when it is the West which has been trying to steal Iran's oil for so long, I pray for them that they can learn to resist but without hatred, and be prepared to forgive when they succeed as I am sure they will if they are patient and faithful. But that is no excuse for the way some people are being treated there and I think Iran, like many countries, has more than its fair share of ignorant buffoons.

You are right, it is human nature to do all of these things, and I am always trying to remind Muslims I meet that we have always been an example to the Europeans and that they are not our teachers. For example when Jerusalem was freed by Salah ed Dine,rest his soul, there was no bloodshed. Sheikh Abdul Qadir al Jazairi saved the lives of thousands of Christians in Damascus when there were ethnic strife there and he was the fiercest fighter against the French! I tell them it is our base nature to seek revenge, but the Qur'an shows Muslims that there is a way to rise above it if they just purify their hearts. A difficult thing for anybody I'm sure you'll agree! :) So I disagree with you, it is possible that human nature is violent and seeks revenge, but a person has a chance to purify themselves and remove hate from their hearts if they try hard enough. Just because you are forced to fight that does not mean you cannot remove hate.

Ahmedinejad is a good man but he is also a leader in a time of great hardship, I pray for him and I hope he is able to make wise decisions, but it isn't easy when you have an enemy like the United States! I think they're probably worse than the Romans in some aspects, but don't worry, people try to scare you with him by saying he will kill Christians, sadly history has shown that it has usually been the other way around =)

So yes, on one level, the Iranian people you spoke with have a point about the strictness of some things in Iran, but it was never going to be easy to have a free Islamic country, even if it is imperfect - hey it's better than the hypocritical Saudi kingdom! - especially in today's world =) I'm glad I had the opportunity to hear your views and hopefully help you understand some of these misconceptions, inshallah we will all not just play together but pray together. There is only one God after all and I think he is getting sick of people always trying to kill whoever says the truth :)

GREAT quote "Saddam Hussein, God forgive him, only became the Arab leader he should have been when he stood facing the gallows". I prayed for him for years to be such a leader, and he did not make that choice.

This one "So I disagree with you, it is possible that human nature is violent and seeks revenge, but a person has a chance to purify themselves and remove hate from their hearts if they try hard enough." made me realize I left an important part out of my comment.

I do believe that human nature can be overcome, and motives and acts purified, by trusting the power of God to do so. As you mentioned earlier, in choosing to forgive and retract revenge, which is the 2nd most ultimate act of love, after giving one's life for another.

Of course, for me, that would be the power of God through the Holy Spirit, after Jesus Christ gave His life for those who trust Him to cover that impurity.

Interesting that we are both fully convinced in our faiths, both enjoying the fellowship of others who have come from another faith.

Pretty cool we can be so different, but find a common goal in desiring leaders to be godly men of strong leadership and merciful compassion for all those under their care.

you mention -without hiding your disgust- how annoyed you are by iranians who reach for wine in the uk or elsewhere.

- don't forget that iran was persian, multi-cultural and multi-religious for centuries, long before it was converted by blood and swords to islam.

- don't forget that non-muslis still live (with great difficulty) in iran today. many of whom have also been driven out of iran by force: iranian jews, christians and bahai's are sharing the same fate as palestinians. these people do drink wine, just like many secular muslim iranians.

- don't forget that persia and mesopotamia has a wine-producing history that predates islam by millennia. wine production came from sites in iran, dating from 6000 to 5000 BC!

i'm sorry for the slightly-inconsistent angry rant. i'm in a hurry as usual, but i need to make a point: the message you portray and the image you paint of wine-drinking individuals being westernised brainwashed puppets is so overused and so simplistic it makes me sick to my stomach. it alienates non-muslim arabs, secular muslims and iranians who are fighting every day for the same causes as their muslim compatriotes.

for god's sake: WHAT DOES WINE HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?

i bet your impression of wine is built on a version of wine-tasting or wine-drinking tainted by your long years of alienation in an ungrateful city in the west.

you've said you've never visited beirut. well i invite you to visit beirut, to see how leftist, pan-arab, pro-palestinian activists raise their toasts everyday (lebanese wine - you bet) prior to every pro-palestinian demonstration, prior to them taking a beating in the name of a multi-religous palestine, a multi-cultural arab world, and a multi-ethnic coexistance. a world which, religious fanatism are as far from, as the worst and cruellest western imperialist puppets.

wine is not a symbol of the west's hegemony. ignorance of "other people" is. deliberate ignorance of the "other" are themselves the direct result and reaction to the western hegemony. they are the ultimate, unconscious admission by the fanatics that the west has *indeed* wiped their identity so fast, that they're desperately clinging to meaningless material differenciators, to shallowly distinguish themselves from their compatriots, and from people who have shared their land and their history for millennia.

You know Jimmy I'm surprised you are making a comment like this and I wasn't sure how to respond. You see you are more than welcome to be angry with me, but please make sure you are so for the right reasons!

No offence but you are like a football fan who supports the red team, but you are at a match between the blue and the green teams and yet angry that nobody is cheering red with you.

For one thing I have no time for the "leftist, pan-arab, pro-Palestinian" wine guzzlers of Beirut. For one thing they are about as Arab as Tony Danza, in fact that probably counts for three quarters of the population of Beirut. So you get my drift on what I think of these people and their credibility with me.

The idea that Iran's revolution was mostly secular is an inference rather than something based on fact, so you are free to hold that opinion though it would be a brave person indeed who would try to make a big story that this was indeed the case. The Islamic revolution was just that, Islamic. Those that thought it was something else ended up swinging from a piece of rope or went to live abroad. Nothing personal, but that's just what happens. Politics is no joke.

Iran's non-Islamic history and this issue with wine? Yes, wine is being used as a political statement and it remains a valuable tool of distinguishing between individuals that are truly free and those who want to have their cake and eat it.

Frankly you've blown my statement on wine out of all proportion and that probably says more about stuff which frustrates you than about what you actually think of what I said. My description is a valid one, and those who have a bit more patience than to press "Publish Your Comment" after an incessant rant probably understand.

Archive

Disclaimer

This policy is valid from 05 August 2009

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog does not accept any form of advertising, sponsorship, or paid insertions. We write for our own purposes. However, we may be influenced by our background, occupation, religion, political affiliation or experience.

The owner(s) of this blog will never receive compensation in any way from this blog.

The owner(s) of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners. If we claim or appear to be experts on a certain topic or product or service area, we will only endorse products or services that we believe, based on our expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.